EU Refugee crisis:
latest news from across Europe19.4.17
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Observatory: Refugee
crisis in the Med and inside the EU: Daily
news (updated through the day), commentaries and official documentsGREECE: Detention centres for migrants and refugees
on Greek islands at 150% of capacity

The latest figures released
by the Greek government show that the "strutures" and
"hosting facilities" used to hold migrants and refugees
on Greece's Aegean islands - principally Lesvos, Chios, Samos,
Leros and Kos - currently have 13,003 "guests" but
officially room for just 8,696 people.

"Almost a thousand
migrants arrived on the island of Lampedusa over Easter weekend.
Four women were among the arrivals, including one pregnant one,
as were four injured men.

The number hosted on
the island's reception center and hotspot thus stands at 1,040,
compared with a just over 200-person capacity. In order to deal
with the latest arrivals, bunk beds have been set up and mattresses
have been laid on the floors. The Red Cross, which runs the center,
is in charge of the lodgings. During the day and while awaiting
transfer to other centers, the guests leave through a hole in
the fence and remain in the vicinity."

A new report by AITIMA
details the problems faced by asylum-seekers in Greece, including
a lack of access to the asylum procedure, the issues raised by
restrictions on residence that confine people to islands in the
Aegean, the "extremely limited" legal advice and assistance
available, and the involvement of the European Asylum Support
Office in the first instance asylum procedure that "raises
issues of competence".

"Child refugees
in northern France are facing exploitation and violence on a
daily basis?, including threats from adult men armed with knives
and machetes, Unicef has warned.

An alarming report has
revealed that unaccompanied minors who lived in the Grande-Synthe
refugee camp in Dunkirk before it burnt down last week were constantly
fearful of sexual abuse and attacks with weapons, and that
no one  including the police  was there to care for
them or to protect them.

In a series of interviews
conducted by Unicef last month, 13 unaccompanied minors said
due to brutal treatment by the authorities in France during their
journeys, they had turned to smugglers and traffickers who were
offering information and apparent protection, but who in turn
abused and exploited them.

The report also found
that despite frequent contacts with the authorities in European
countries on their journeys towards the UK, children have repeatedly
been ill-informed about their legal rights to protection, including
their right to be reunited with their families."

The Africa-Frontex Intelligence
Community (AFIC) "has now reached an enhanced level of maturity,"
according to the body's annual report for 2016, and is an "unparalleled
platform for information-sharing and joint analysis with African
countries" which has "captured further attention from
the key policy makers in Europe and Africa."

"An investigation
has been launched into the death of a 43-year-old man in an immigration
removal centre on 9 April. The 43-year-old man, who has not yet
been named, was being held at the Verne immigration removal centre
in Portland, Dorset."

"Italian authorities
were still bringing migrants and refugees to shore Monday after
one of the busiest weekends ever for rescue services operating
in the central Mediterranean sea.
At least 8,500 refugees and migrants were plucked from small
boats over the past three days in 73 separate rescue operations,
the Italian Coastguard told CNN Monday.

Thirteen bodies were
recovered, including a pregnant woman and an eight-year-old boy.
It is not known how many died before they were sighted. "

"From January to
October 2016, nearly 160,000 refugees crossed the Mediterranean
to Italy. In response to the smuggling and trafficking across
the Mediterranean, the European Union created Operation Sophia.
However, Operation Sophia has resulted in migrant and refugee
boats being intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and being returned
to Libya. Through the Operation Sophia training program, the
EU has effectively delegated European border control to the Libyan
Coast Guard. This practice allows the EU to evade both their
duty of non-refoulement and duty to rescue distressed persons
at sea. The EU has trained Libyans to conduct actions which the
EU could not legally accomplish itself under international law,
and is therefore violating international human rights law by
aiding and assisting Libyas wrongful actions."

WIE: We hearing that
they are forcing people to work in the Lagers, do you have any
idea or experience about this?

A:Yes that is very true.
They are forcing people to work in the Lagers and I am one of
the victims of this policy. They told me I should work in the
Lager and that they will pay me 80 Cents per hour. I told them
I am going to school, and though I would like to work, I have
no time since I cannot combine both. But they said no. I would
have to work because if I didnt they would cut my social
money for food. They also said that I have to work because this
work would help me to integrate with the society. I said: Thats
not true because I know that without the language I cant
interact with the community. I told them to wait until I get
done with my language course and then I can come back to work
since then I will understand everything in German. But they said
no. I would have to work first."

"The laughter of
a small group of refugees has broken the silence of a once-dying
village in the foothills of the Aspromonte mountains in southern
Italy.

As reported by the Agence
France-Presse (AFP), the tiny village of SantAlessio has
been welcoming families and vulnerable migrants for three years
in a project which not only provides humanitarian assistance
but brings with it invaluable economic and social benefits.

Over the years the village
has dwindled to only 330 inhabitants, many of them elderly. The
steep cobbled streets are deserted and most windows are shuttered,
residents having left over the years for better work opportunities
in Turin, Milan or as far away as Australia.

In an attempt to reverse
the trend, however, since 2014 the council has been renting eight
of these empty flats to house up to 35 migrants at a time as
part of the national SPRAR network (Protection System for Asylum
Seekers and Refugees)."

"The use of charter
flights to facilitate deportation is not uncommon. A Freedom
of Information request by End Deportations found that more than
1,500 people were deported on charter flights to Albania, Pakistan,
Nigeria and Ghana and Jamaica in 2016. The flights come with
little advance warning, people facing deportation often being
informed shortly before the flight is due to depart.

After the departure
of the flight to Jamaica in March, I caught up with one of our
clients, David*. Just days before the flight was due to take
off, David was told that he would be removed on a charter flight.
Not long before the flight took off he was granted a last minute
reprieve following an intervention from his lawyer."

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